Close Quarters
by Xyros
Summary: John Shepard was tired. Almost 4 years spent fighting the reapers and for what? 3 crappy choices, each worse than the last. At the end of the war, in that final moment, he's had enough. So he crosses a few wires and has his chance to a life after the war.
1. Chapter 1

Close Quarters

Summary – John Shepard was tired. Almost 4 years spent fighting the reapers and for what? 3 crappy choices, each worse than the last. At the end of the war, in that final moment, he's had enough. All he wanted was lost back on Virmire. Kaidan told him to save Ashley, and he did, but at the cost of his own happiness. So, deciding he's had enough of bending to the whims of a computer generated image, he crosses a few wires and ends up back on Virmire with a second chance. A chance to end the war before it starts, a chance to live.

[Not a story of Shepard going back in time and kicking the Reapers asses with his future knowledge. This is going to focus more on Shepard getting back what he had lost, with him lending the other Shepard an occasional helping hand.]

_Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect. If I did, the ending would be better, and Shepard would get to punch Illusive Man in the face._

Pairings;

John Shepard [Paragade/Sole Survivor/Ruthless/Colonist/Vanguard]/Kaidan Alenko

James Shepard [Paragon/War Hero/Spacer/Soldier]/Miranda Lawson

CHAPTER 1: A CHOICE

"The paths are open. You must choose" John Shepard, Commander of the Normandy and First Human Spectre stood in disbelief as a computer representation of his recurring nightmare told him to choose between genocide, control, or fundamentally changing everyone's DNA. After everything he had fought for, everyone who had been sacrificed to make it this far, there was no end. The aftershocks of his choice would be felt all across the galaxy. The mass relays would be destroyed, stranding all the fleets in the Sol System, slowly killing by mass starvation. If he chose the control pillar he would end up no better than the reapers, losing what kept him in check, his humanity. Synergy sounded like the best option, until you factored in that no man can decide such a choice for anyone but himself.

As he thought about his options, a memory welled up of another impossible choice. Ashley or Kaidan. His duty said Ashley, his heart said Kaidan. Logically it made sense to protect the bomb, it being the only way to destroy the cloning facility. But in following the logical decision, he left Kaidan to die alone on Virmire, the tattered remnants of his heart with him. Familiar feelings of guilt, pain, longing rose in him, and he swore to never make that choice again.

John stood on the pathway in his burned and melted armor, clutching his abdomen in an effort to stop the bleeding, and made a different choice. Turning towards the ghostly image of the catalyst he limped to the lone computer console, releasing his pistol so he could input commands.

The beeping of the console was interrupted by a child's voice, "What are you doing? You must choose, or everything will be lost."

"I am choosing. Just wired a little differently." His worn voice answered. He was so tired…

"What do you mean? There are no other choices." A guttural laugh rang out as John finished inputting the last few commands.

"I didn't make a new choice, I choose all three. I figure it's better than any individual one, and personally, I don't give a flying fuck what you say. I've fought too hard and lost too much to let the end of the war be dictated by a figment of my imagination." So saying he closed the console and input a command into his barely functioning omnitool.

The catalyst looked behind at the whirring machinery, confused as to what the human had done. It examined the console within its mind, tracing the wires and input commands. It whirled in shock, yelling after the retreating human.

"What did you do? The Citadel is not meant to utilize that much power. It will destroy itself before it fires! Shepard!"

It was ignored, along with its ranting's. John limped back over to the elevator and descended until he was in the remains of the citadel embassy. Sparks were emitting from blown transformers and lights were flickering ominously as the citadel gathered power at its core.

With a ding the elevator doors opened and John grasped the edge to steady himself before continuing onward to his destination: spectre headquarters.

"Spectre status recognized. Welcome, Commander Shepard" the doors whirred open and John limped as fast as his broken body could to the personnel lockers. Inputting his own code he opened the locker to reveal a set of his custom Ariake/Hahne-Kedar armor along with much needed medical supplies.

With a hiss, he started to peel off as much of his burned armor as he could, applying medi-gel to each uncovered wound. When his torso was fully bare he dug two of his fingers and retrieved the mass-accelerator round in his lower abdomen, and then applied as much gel as he safely could before tightly wrapping the entirety of his abdomen in bandages. Feeling the pain retreat down to a dull roar he proceeded to put on the new armor, feeling more himself with each piece added.

Done with the body armor he grasped the last piece, a recon hood. He figured it would protect his ravaged face from even more damage. Now suited up he walked to the armory, taking note of the now almost ear-splitting whine emitting from the citadel. Being a Vanguard he could only carry so much weight in weapons. From the somewhat limited selection, as none of the lower tier weapons were available, he chose an M77 Palladin and an M99 Saber. A mild debate with himself and he also picked up a Black Widow rifle. Now suitably geared up and feeling secure in the knowledge that he could take on whatever the universe threw at him next, he left and went back the way he came.

At this point the citadel was practically vibrating underfoot and the undulations of the floor were starting to affect the surroundings. John was looking for survivors, if any were left, and bookshelves' crashing to the floor was not helping.

"Hello? Is there anyone left alive? Can anyone hear me?" Nothing but the whine of the Citadel reached his ears and he let out a grunt of frustration. As John turned back towards the center of the Citadel a particularly harsh shake propelled him off of his feet.

Adrenaline spiking once more he shoved himself to his feet and began to run back to the center of the Citadel where, years before, he and his team had taken the relay from Ilos to the Citadel. Sprinting through the debris and steadying himself whenever the floor moved, John was distracted by his sputtering ear-piece.

"…ander…Comma…epard, can you…ear me?" Still running he raised his hand to his ear and simultaneously checked his omni-tool to try and clear up the frequency.

"Commander Shepard, are you there? The crucible isn't firing, and we've lost contact with Anderson." Recognizing Admiral Hackett on the comm., John responded, "Sir, the Citadel is powering up, I'm on my way to the control console to check its status. I don't know what will happen, I think it best that the remains of the fleets retreat…including the Normandy."

There was silence on the line for several seconds, in which the Citadel gave a jarring shudder and John stumbled and fell to his knees, before, "Understood Commander. And Shepard? Well done." The transmission cut and John was on his own.

Giving a slight shake of his head he continued his run to the main console. However, he would never make it. Still on the Presidium level the Citadel gave a giant jolt to the side, sending John crashing into the remains of the miniature relay. He stumbled to his feet, now frantic, and almost missed the humming of the supposedly inactive relay. It seems, that whatever wires he crossed on that original console somehow reactivated the relay.

He had stayed too long. An ear-splitting scream came from the Citadel, with the relay resonating with it, and the center of the relay exploded with energy. John, practically on top of it, was mass-accelerated along with the energy beam from the rest of the Citadel.

The fleet, which had retreated a safe distance away from the Citadel, witnessed a bright flash of light followed by a beam of energy that impacted the relay and seemed to energize the relay until it too emitted a beam of energy. The Reapers were vaporized, not even atoms remaining, their consciousness's, and indoctrination, dying with them.

Admiral Steven Hackett stood on the command deck watching, and gave a silent salute to the man who made it possible for them to win. A man whose consciousness was quickly fading as he was flung across the galaxy, until with a last thought he faded.

"Kaidan…"

* * *

It was bright. This was Johns' first thought as sunlight filtered through the trees and hit his closed eyelids. John tried opening his eyes, which took a few moments as they adjusted, and sat up with a groan. Taking in his surroundings he swore he had been here before. He rolled over onto his hands and knees and levered himself up until he was standing and began to look around. This semi-peaceful moment was interrupted with the sharp crack of gunfire. Johns' head whipped around, almost giving him a crick in his neck, and ran towards the sounds of the fire fight.

As he ran he continued to have that feeling, as though he should remember what was going on and where he was. It wasn't until he heard the familiar sounds of geth communicating with one another and salarian commands interspersed with a rare human voice that he remembered.

Virmire. The planet of his nightmares. John stopped almost instantly, his mind flashing back to all those years ago and that terrible choice. But how did he get here? Virmire was practically a radioactive wasteland after the nuke went off, it definitely didn't have any trees or rushing water on it anymore. An alarm went off in the back of his mind, and without being fully conscious of what he was doing he typed a frequency into his omni-tool and hit enter.

The sound of chatter filled his ear, one voice driving itself into his heart.

"Shepard, the bomb is more important. Leave me, get Ashley. I'll hold out." John couldn't breathe. This wasn't possible. And then a somewhat bigger shock, but one not as impactful, he heard his own voice over the comm. unit.

"Kaidan…Understood Major, I'll get Ashley." Not willing to let his biggest regret play out exactly the same, John interrupted the communication.

"I'll retrieve the Major, and meet you at your ship." All communication stopped, the sounds of gunfire all that remained, until, "Who is this? Identify."

Thinking quickly, John said, "I'm a Spectre. Major, what's your location?"

Clearly hesitant to tell the stranger, with the other Shepard saying that there wasn't enough time, Kaidan relayed his coordinates. Bringing up a mental map of himself and where Kaidan was, he gathered his biotics and charged to Kaidan.

For the Major, one second he's telling the supposed Spectre where he is and the next he sees a black and red armored individual appear in a flash of blue. Not sure what had happened he continued to fire at the geth. Kaidan watched as the man glowed blue in what could only be biotics before he arched and drove his fist into the ground, a pulse detonating around him and sending geth units flying. The man stood up and before any of the geth could recover he sent shockwaves and warps at the geth like it was a free-for-all, before grabbing one of the closer geth and sending a biotically driven punch straight into its chest cavity. The armored geth crumpled like tissue paper around the man's arm, and he used the body to smash another geth before sending the body back at a group of them. At this point Kaidan had stopped firing as he was in too much shock at the one man army tearing up the geth troops like they weren't even there.

John released another Nova and followed it with a charge at the geth Prime he saw. Biotics glowing brightly he brought his arm back and released his omni-blade, bringing it up and impaling it right through the Prime's head. The body teetered a little before crashing to the ground. John remained kneeling for a moment, checking for any more geth before retracting the blade and rising. With the fight over he slowly turned, looking at the man whose death had haunted him for the last 4 years. When he saw Kaidan he nearly wanted to cry. Kaidan was just as he remembered, a soldier to the core.

Kaidan kept his gun up, slightly lowered but in a position that allowed him easy aim, as the biotic powerhouse stood from the Prime he had just stabbed. The man was wearing the most hi-tech armor Kaidan had ever seen, a blend of dark crimson and matte black, and had a hood of some sort covering his face. Kaidan started forwards, continuously scanning his surroundings as he made his way towards the man.

"You're a Spectre?"

"Correct." Kaidan eyed him suspiciously for a second.

"The only human Spectre is Commander Shepard. You're lying." To emphasize his point he raised his rifle a bit.

"Right and Wrong. We can debate this later; right now we have to get to the ship before it leaves." As if to hammer this home the other Shepard's voice came over the comm.

"Kaidan, I have Ash. Where are you?" Kaidan opened his mouth to respond but let out a muffled curse instead as John grabbed him and swung him over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.

"What the hell-" he was cut off as John gathered his biotics and charged to where he remembered the ship being.

John levered Kaidan off his shoulder and pushed him in front as they arrived in the middle of the firefight between the other Shepard and Saren. Not letting Kaidan get a word in edgewise John propelled him onto the Normandy. John swung him around to face him and yelled, "Stay here!" before turning and once again charging, this time at his alternate self.

The other Shepard was being strangled by Saren a couple feet above the ground. He raised his fist to punch the Turian in the face when a bright flash of blue light momentarily blinded him. When he could see again he saw an armored man throw Saren into the wall, it cracking with the force of the biotically enhanced throw. Saren crumpled to the ground and John spun around to the other Shepard.

"We need to leave. Get to the Normandy." He nodded, grasping his throat slightly, and ran back to the Normandy. John watched for a moment before striding over to Saren and wrapping his hand around his throat. Bringing the Turian face-to-face he said, "Tell Sovereign he will lose, and to pass the message onto Harbinger for me, ok? The Reapers will never win." Saren struggled for a second before gasping out, "Who are you to speak to me?"

A mirthless smirk formed on Johns' face, his mask hiding it. "I am what the Reapers fear. No more, no less." Dropping Saren John turned and ran for the Normandy, giving a biotically charged leap to land on the rising ramp.

John slowly walked up the ramp as the ship rose and left Virmire, his thoughts finally catching up with him. He had saved Kaidan, both he and Ashley had made it off of Virmire alive. And there was another Shepard. His alternate self seemed different, and in more than just the physical sense. It was how he carried himself, at least the little John had seen. Less weight on his shoulders, less grief weighing him down. If events were to play out like he remembered them, John could not make any overt changes until Sovereign was destroyed. After that, there was a two year gap before he had destroyed the collector base and then 6 months after that was when the Reapers showed up. He had to play this out right, or billions of people would die, just like before. He couldn't tell anyone who he was, Shepard was the only one who could unite the galaxy, and John didn't have the prerequisites in this place. No one knew who he was, and hopefully it was going to stay that way. Though he didn't know how he was going to pull that off…

He was startled out of his thoughts by the very object of his contemplation. The other Shepard stood, arms crossed, in front of the elevator.

"You need to come with me to the debriefing room." John gave a nod to show his assent, and followed his alternate self.

They stood silently in the elevator, and exited together on the bridge. Down the stairs and into the circular room where the entire crew was seated. John stood near the entrance, not sure where to sit, as the other Shepard stood in the center.

"Ok, the mission was a success. Saren's cloning facility was destroyed, and everyone made it off. Speaking of which," he turned to John, "Not that I'm not grateful for your assistance, but who are you? And how did you get there? You are human, at least in shape, and I'm the only human Spectre, so the truth would be nice." The other Shepard was squared up, arms crossed and stance that of someone who knows he's right.

John spoke, the masks vocal piece scrambling his voice into something semi-robotic. "I did not lie, I am a Spectre, and have the authorization codes to prove it. The rest is classified."

The other Shepard waited a second, probably for a name. With none forthcoming he said, "How about a name, then?"

John considered the man before him. "What is your name?" The other Shepard looked almost startled for a moment, as if he couldn't understand how someone wouldn't know who the first human spectre was.

"James Shepard, First Human Spectre and Commander of the SSV Normandy. Now answer my questions. I won't ask again."

John looked around the room, taking in the various expressions of the crew. Ashley looked like the consummate soldier, hard faced and supporting her Commander. Garrus and Wrex looked almost bored, as if they couldn't care less about the confrontation, though Garrus' mandibles were twitching anxiously. Liara looked slightly nervous in the face of the confrontation, and Kaidan…Kaidan was the hardest to read. His face was inscrutable as he looked between John and James.

Looking back at James John let out a weary sigh. He was just so tired…

John opened his mouth to speak only to feel the ship swaying sideways. That's odd, he thought, as the ship continued to move. Joker's usually better than this. His thoughts were cut off by the edges of his vision fading in and out. It was then that John understood what was happening, and with his last conscious thought, programmed his mask to be irremovable. So tired… his last memory was of the floor rushing up to meet him before his vision went black.

* * *

_A/N - So, a reviewer from a different story of mine wanted me to continue it, but it was a one-shot and I couldn't really formulate a plot for what happened after, so this story was born. It's a little different, and I'm not sure yet where I'm going to take it, so let me know what you think._


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2: CONSEQUENCES

Kaidan was waiting along with the rest of the ground team on answers from their mysterious guest when he suddenly collapsed to the ground. James was the first to act, moving forward to flip the man over while shouting orders.

"Alert Dr. Chakwas and have the elevator on standby. Kaidan, help me move him." As the others rushed to follow the orders Kaidan bent down to help lift the man up, understanding why Shepard wanted the help. He was heavy. With the downed man's arms over each of their shoulders they made their way to the med bay. In the elevator, Kaidan couldn't help but comment, "You'd think he was a krogan, how heavy he is." Shepard gave a slight chuckle in agreement.

With a ding the elevator arrived at the lower deck and the two maneuvered their way to the med bay. Chakwas was there to greet them.

"What's the situation, Commander?" Shepard gave a rundown as they laid the man onto a bed.

"Spectre that helped us down on Virmire. He collapsed in the middle of the debriefing." Chakwas nodded and started to unclasp the man's armor. First the extremities came off, then the chest plate. Kaidan ended up having to biotically help lift the armor off, it being too heavy to safely pick up. As the chest plate was lifted the three got their first glimpse of the man's chest. The entirety of his undershirt was soaked with blood, being concentrated around a gunshot wound in the lower abdomen. The rest of his skin was blackened with burns and what looked to be the remains of a previous set of armor practically melted onto his skin.

While Kaidan and James silently wondered how the man had stayed standing so long Chakwas attempted to remove the facial mask. She was unsuccessful. Her fingers found the bottom seam, but could not lift it without ripping it from the fragile skin of the neck, as it appeared to be melded together. Leaving it be for now, she immediately went to work, shooing the two soldiers out.

Shepard and Kaidan complied, and with one last glance at the still form on the table, went to plan their assault on Ilos.

* * *

1 Month After Battle Of The Citadel – Above Alchera

Commander James Shepard sat at his desk reading a status update on the mystery man in the infirmary. He had yet to wake up. Apparently he was in some sort of coma, induced by the trauma his body had gone through.

Shepard sighed, putting the data pad down and rubbing his temples in thought. He had yet to tell anyone outside of the ground team who the man was in the infirmary. He had no idea if the man was really a Spectre or not, yet the man's equipment was too advanced for him to not be a Spectre. He wanted answers first, before he made any decisions he couldn't take back.

Shepard's thoughts were interrupted by something hitting the Normandy and the sound of an explosion somewhere above him. He leapt into action, putting his armor on in record time. As he ran from the room and up the stairs he spoke into the common radio frequency of the Normandy as another explosion killed the main power.

"Alenko, Williams, help Dr. Chakwas with our guest, take everything he brought and get to an escape pod. To all crew members, evacuate immediately. I repeat, get to the escape pods." So saying he triggered the evac alarm and made his way towards the CIC.

* * *

22 Months After Normandy Crash

The air felt filtered, stale, and there was an odd humming noise in the background. Where most would show obvious signs of waking he was different. Trained to go from asleep to awake almost instantaneously, the only sign that he had woken up was an almost imperceptible heart rate increase. John could feel the recon mask covering his face and so chanced opening his eyes. Blinking a little at the sudden brightness he turned his head to both sides, taking in his surroundings.

He looked to be in a standard hospital room, but there were no windows and he could hear none of the regular sounds that he associated with hospitals. Not liking his first impression he sat up, removing various needles and wires, turning the machine next to him off when it gave off a loud beeeep in protest. John froze, straining his ears for the sound of anyone coming. Knowing that that had probably tipped someone off that he was up he stood, ready to leave, when he felt something.

A slight breeze…apparently he was wearing a hospital gown. He glanced down in annoyance before looking around for his stuff. There was no way he was escaping in a damned gown.

A personnel locker with a keypad on the front was in the corner of the room. With a shrug he made his way over and examined the door. Hmm, structurally sound, yet if I pull here… He gripped right above and below one of the hinges and, using the heavy muscle weave and generally strengthened bone structure he was enhanced with, he pulled. With a metallic screech the upper hinge gave way, allowing John to pull the door off completely. Not exactly subtle he thought with a slight smirk. The smirk widened into a grin when he saw his armor and various amenities inside. Still grinning, he tore the gown off and proceeded to get dressed.

Now completely armored up and feeling more like himself than he had since waking up he moved to the door and slowly stuck his right side out, panning from one side to the other. Still no sign of anyone. Odd. Picking a side at random he left the room, his Saber raised in front as he continuously scanned the halls.

It was like a ghost town, and it wasn't until he hit the living quarters that he heard the sounds of other people. It sounded like it was dinner time, and he'd stumbled onto the mess hall. This should be interesting. Just as John had the thought he turned the corner at the exact same time as a woman walked out of the mess working on her omni-tool. He froze, eyes widening as he recognized the cat suit. Miranda. He lowered his rifle automatically, and the motion caught her attention. Her head snapped up to see a heavily armored man standing not 5 feet away with an assault rifle at standby. John could see her process this all in the fraction of the second it took her to raise a heavy pistol and train it unerringly on his head.

"Who are you? How did you get into this facility?" John stayed silent, not entirely sure what he should do now. Slowly, he took his left hand from the support grip of his rifle and raised it, palm up. The pistol twitched at the motion but thankfully didn't fire.

"I woke up 10 minutes ago and have no idea where I am. Care to share?" It seemed she didn't appreciate his small attempt at humor, sad as it was. Her face became more rigid, if that was possible, and she was now glaring at him. Wonderful.

"I will not ask again. Identify yourself." The voice wasn't raised, but it had certainly frozen a few degrees. John remained silent again, not sure what to call himself. Apparently she took that as a sign of hostility, as her biotics began to glow.

Her attack was interrupted by the arrival of a few scientists turning the corner behind her. As her head turned slightly to see who it was John acted. He shouldered his rifle, bent his knees slightly, and slammed his shoulder into Miranda's midsection. She was lifted off the ground a good foot before her back rammed into one of the scientists. Taking advantage of Miranda being incapacitated he ran into the mess hall and scanned for another exit.

Spotting one on the other side of the room he ran for it, shoving passed uniformed individuals in the process. Cerberus…he had almost reached his goal when a shock of grey hair had him looking sideways and locking eyes with Chakwas. The moment stretched on until the sound of a pistol firing had him moving again. A few rounds impacted his shields and drained them to the point that John turned and biotically shoved an occupied table towards Miranda. This allowed him the chance to grab Chakwas and drag her with him out of the room.

Inside, Miranda was pissed. She ran around the table, shouting orders at the disorganized mess in front of her and ordering the station into lockdown.

As alarms began to blare John found an empty room and went in, dragging Chakwas with him. Glancing from side to side he asked,

"Where are we? What's the date?"

Out of breath at the running Chakwas gasped out, "It's 2185, you've been in a coma for 22 months. And we're on a Cerberus station."

John took a second to process this, before laughing. I go back and still end up missing almost 2 years of my life. Unbelievable. Chakwas looked at him strangely, not understanding the humor. He stopped abruptly, almost like a switch had been flicked, and said, "Where's Alenko?"

Chakwas was silent for a moment. Probably wondering why he had asked, before replying. "I don't know where Kaidan is. The Normandy crew split up after the crash." John nodded, before asking for directions to the shuttle bay.

He paused at the door, feeling compelled to thank the doctor. He had no doubt that the only reason he was alive was because she had brought him with her. Otherwise, there's a good chance he would have woken up in a cell somewhere.

"Doctor, thank you, for everything." He made to leave, only to continue with, "Oh, and the Lazarus project will work." With that last comment, he left. She stared after him in shock, wondering how he knew what the Lazarus project was when he'd been comatose for almost 2 years.

John followed the mental directions in his head until he had a definite map towards the shuttle bay. He prepped his biotics in anticipation and took off, starting at a jog and increased his speed till he was all out sprinting towards his destination. Because he was a Vanguard he was up close in almost all of his fights, and so his armor had to reflect that. Therefore it was a lot stronger and more durable than most armor, and as a result it was significantly heavier. So there was no automatic sprinting without a biotic charge, more of a buildup of speed until he was an almost unstoppable juggernaut of force.

Rounding a corner at full speed he ran into a squad of Cerberus mechs blocking the corridor. Not pausing he flung a shockwave straight down the middle, sending the mechs smashing into the walls. Barely a thought was devoted to this as he was focused on making sure he didn't crash through any walls on his way out.

A few more similar encounters occurred before he reached the shuttle bay. Barely pausing to rip the doors off their hinges he glanced around, looking for his way off this station. Finding what he was looking for he headed to the shuttle before a familiar sight met his eyes. With a quick grin he changed direction, running towards the fighter reminiscent of the one he had launched through the Cerberus facility during the war.

Getting into the cockpit he typed in a quick command into his omni-tool as he fired up the engine, his technologically superior software quickly hacking into the docking bays protocols and overriding the bay doors. With an electronic whine, the doors opened and John shot out of the Cerberus facility in a stolen fighter, a manic grin on his face.

Back in the shuttle bay the troops of Cerberus soldiers slowly picked themselves up off of the ground and wondered if they would survive telling their boss that their target had escaped.

* * *

Alone in the emptiness of space, at least for the moment, John pondered his next move. His options were extremely limited. His alternate self had yet to be revived, and so the only team that challenged the Collectors wasn't together. Without the other Shepard awake, John had no credibility. He doubted he'd be able to just waltz up to Anderson or Hackett and explain the situation without sounding like a lunatic. He needed the other Shepard awake to push things forward. But this left him with the dilemma of what to do until that happened.

The best option to meet up with the crew was on Horizon, it would give him a chance to explain to Ash and Kaidan what was really going on with their Commander, and would hopefully avoid the entire argument that he'd experienced. But until then…a past conversation came to the forefront of his mind. Ferris Fields, Collector attack, Cortez…Perfect. He'd just go help out an old friend.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3: WHEN IN NEED

Ferris Fields 2185

What had started out as just another day at the colony had changed once the Collector ship arrived. First there was confusion, and when the swarm came confusion became panic. One of the running civilians deviated from everyone else's path and dashed sideways through one of the prefab units. He moved nimbly around the scattered furniture on his way out the back door, making a call on his omni-tool as he ran.

"Robert? What's-" Robert cut him off.

"Steve, listen. You need to leave. Someone's attacking the colony." As he spoke he looked around trying to spot any of the bug-like creatures.

"I'll get a shuttle, meet you. You can make it!" Trained marine or not, Steve's voice failed to hide the desperation leaking through. Robert was about to respond when something interrupted him.

A crash came from behind him and he whirled, seeing what looked like a glowing blue ball of energy smash through the prefab unit. The energy coalesced into the shape of a man which started moving towards him. Robert started to back up, not sure if he was friend or foe, until the man barked out, "Cortez, get a shuttle for evac., I'll gather as many civilians as possible and get you a nav point."

A shaky, "Yes sir" came over the channel as Cortez instinctively responded to the tone of command. The man looked at Robert, motioning to the pistol he held. "You any good with that?" Robert nodded.

"Here's the plan. I'll create a biotic field to hold the swarm at bay, you yell for as many civilians as possible to get under, and shoot anything that isn't human. Got it?" He nodded again.

John shook his head to himself, preparing to hold the field for a while. Turning, he ran back through the destroyed prefab and into the middle of the chaos. Colonists were still running from the swarm, a few already succumbing to the toxins from the bugs. John raised his arms and shoved outwards, a blue wave expanding in front of him and smashing the swarm away for a bit. In the moment of silence that followed he shouted, "Everyone, under the shield. Grab anyone incapacitated with you. Move!"

People were still for a moment, shock preventing them from acting, until a decent sized biotic barrier came into existence and surrounded a significant portion of the road. Galvanized into action the civilians rushed to follow the instructions. By the time the swarm had regrouped almost everyone that could was under the shield.

John signaled Cortez. "Cortez, I have civilians and need that evac." Static filled the air before, "Roger that. Got a few others with me, should have enough shuttles for everyone. Making the run now." Before the channel cut off the sound of the shuttles approaching could be heard over the sounds of the swarm. That wasn't the only sound. The chattering of the Collectors could be heard as well, and they were getting closer. Thinking quickly, John decided on a course of action.

"Anyone who has a weapon, in front. Shoot anything that isn't human, hold them off!" Only a few of the people had a weapon on them; nevertheless, they moved to obey.

As the sounds of fire erupted from the front two shuttles landed, with another two circling the area and lending fire support. John moved backwards, beginning to feel the strain of holding the barrier, and banged a fist against one of the shuttles. In response the door opened up and John came face to face with an old friend. Shaking off the memories, he said,

"Get them on board; I'll hold the shield as long as possible." Cortez nodded, and motioned to a few of the civilians in the immediate area, the adjacent shuttle doing the same.

Cortez hesitated, looking around. Understanding, John reassured him. "I'll make sure he gets out. Now go, switch out." Cortez nodded, turning and getting back in the pilot's seat. As the two now full shuttles rose up, they switched with the two providing air support and the rest of the civilians began to board. The Collectors were getting agitated, their chattering increasing when they saw their prey escaping. One of the Collectors hunched over, glowing yellow lines making cracks along the carapace. With a small explosion of yellow energy, glowing yellow eyes stared into John's own.

"Shit." This was not good. The shuttles were still loading, the limited number of ground support was part of the group loading, and he couldn't attack while holding the barrier.

Harbinger didn't let him think of a way out. It flung a ball of energy at him which hit the barrier. The barrier held, but the energy drain needed to hold out against the attack made John take a knee, struggling to maintain the barrier.

His internal monologue of shit, shit, double shit was interrupted by the sounds of one of the shuttle doors sliding shut. He turned his head to see Robert motioning for him to come aboard the last shuttle. John was severely tempted, however a part of him wanted to destroy the remaining Collectors as some sort of belated pay back for his times' Cortez.

John shook his head at Robert, shouting out over the sounds of gunfire, "Tell the pilots to fire at the Collectors, I'll fight them from down here." Not waiting to hear Robert yell at him that he was crazy, John dropped the barrier and charged at Harbinger, catching the annoyance by the throat. Arching his back he drove the possessed Collector into the ground, releasing a Nova at the same time. One down, a million to go. He went to work.

The shuttles circled the colony, firing on any Collector they saw and trying to avoid hitting the biotic wrecking ball in the process. Not having to hold a barrier up let John cool down a little and regain some energy in between charges. Despite what it might look like to those above him, he wasn't mindlessly attacking. He had a goal. The defense towers at Horizon had been enough to scare off the Collector ship last time, so he was making his way towards this colonies defense towers.

Smashing through yet another prefab unit, he hoped the colonists wouldn't charge him for damage costs. Switching from his biotics to his Saber he laid down covering fire as he ran to the command console. Momentarily focusing all his attention on the task in front of him, he missed a Collector. Not a full second after inputting the final command his shields were fried by a particle weapon, the force shoving him forward and into a wall.

Dazed, he lay on the ground for a moment. Shaking his head to clear the cobwebs he got up, glaring at the Collector as he did so. He put his Saber away and powered up his biotics.

"Fine then. Come and get it you piece of shit." With the sounds of the defense towers firing at the ship in the background John once again charged forward, but this time he didn't stop at the Collector. He hit the Collector and brought it with him as he charged through one of the still standing prefab units. Holding the bug-like humanoid in front of him he rammed it straight through two walls before ending the charge. Coming to a stop at the main road John flung the mangled Collector body away from him. It bounced once and rolled for a bit before coming to a stop.

Still smirking as the adrenaline of the fight began to wear off he looked around. The Collector ship was leaving, trying to avoid the defense towers fire as much as it could. The shuttles had stopped firing and were circling the remains of the colony. All in all it was still livable. The only parts that needed fixing up were the prefab units John had smashed through when fighting, and a few scorch marks from weapons fire.

John walked over to a ledge and sat down, taking a breather. One of the circling shuttles landed, the others heading back for the small Alliance outpost. The door opened and John found himself once again looking at Robert.

Robert stepped down from the shuttle, the others behind him looking out at the colony, and made his way to the man sitting down.

"Need a lift?" The as-of-yet unnamed man gave a nod, looking at Robert. Or at least he thought he did. He couldn't tell with the mask the man was wearing. Robert held a hand out and helped levered him up, silently struggling at how heavy the armor was.

The two made their way onto the shuttle, the others making room for the two. John could feel the eyes on him as he sat on one of the benches and closed his eyes. Something tugging on his hand had him opening them up again, however. There was a boy, no older than 5, standing in front of him. One of the women standing in the group made an aborted motion as if to stop the child from disturbing him.

John cocked his head to the side and asked, "Yes?" The boy was wearing worn jeans and a dirty sweater, and was clutching at a small stuffed bear that had seen better days.

The voice was high and slightly wavering, but clear. "Are the bad bugs gone?" He was so tiny.

"Yes, the bad bugs are gone." The boy blinked and asked, "Are they coming back?"

John sat for a moment before moving off the bench and getting down on one knee so that he was eye level with the boy.

"No they aren't. Do you know why?" He shook his head. "Because Commander Shepard is going to go and make sure that they never hurt anyone again. Ok?" The boy nodded, a small grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Here," he shoved the small bear at John, "Mr. Bear will keep you safe." John looked at the small stuffed animal, noting the wear and tear of the clearly loved toy. Releasing a small chuckle he moved his hand over the boys and closed it over the bear.

"Why don't you hold on to Mr. Bear for me? I wouldn't want to lose him." The boy smiled and hugged the toy to his chest. One of the adults behind him, the same woman who had moved earlier, asked,

"Excuse me, you said Commander Shepard? Isn't he that war hero from the Battle of the Citadel? I thought he died." John looked at the woman, thoughtful, before looking down at the boy again. He looked scared at the thought of Shepard being dead, thinking the Collectors would come back no doubt.

"Hey." The boy looked up. "What's your name?" A toothy grin was his response.

"Michael."

"Well, Michael, can you keep a secret?" He nodded vigorously. John brought his hands up to the edges of his mask, inputting the release code, and pulled it off for the first time in 2 years. Michael took a step back, probably scared of the scars, before asking in the way only children can, "What's wrong with your face?"

A small upturn at the corner of his mouth betrayed him at the question as he answered, "I was hurt a few years back and recently woke up. I'm still healing. But I promise you Michael, the Collectors won't come back, ok?" It took a few seconds, before "Are you Commander Shepard?" Their audience seemed to be just as interested in the answer.

"Yes I am, but you can't tell anyone, alright?" He nodded again.

"It'll be our secret!" And just like that the boy was cheerful again. With Michael bouncing around excitedly John looked up at the adults, silently asking a question. It was Robert who responded.

"Your secret's safe. Thank you for keeping those things back." He gave a slight shudder at the mention of the Collectors. Others nodded their heads in agreement. Standing back up and replacing his mask, John said,

"Appreciate it." And that was that.

* * *

After meeting up with the other shuttles at the outpost and families were reunited John asked to see the ranking officer. Steve brought him to a woman, a Sergeant Monroe, who stood up as they entered. She held out her hand.

"Sergeant Monroe, grateful for your assistance. What can I do for you?" Well, that was straight to the point.

"I'm looking for a couple people, a Lieutenant Alenko and Chief Williams." Monroe looked up from her work, "What do you want with them?" Thinking of the best way to answer this, he said,

"It concerns the Normandy and what happened. I have information that they need, concerning Commander Shepard." John didn't really like dropping his counterparts name so much, but it seemed to get results. The Sergeant nodded and turned to her terminal, typing in a few commands. After finding what she was looking for she said,

"All that's coming up is that the Lieutenant is somewhere in the Terminus systems making rounds of the colonies, and Chief Williams is on the Citadel on shore leave." John nodded his head in thanks, getting up and heading for the door. Monroe stopped his exit, however.

"One second. I need a name for my report." John turned halfway around, thought for a second, and said,

"Commander Shepard." And with that he turned on his heel and left. The Sergeant sat for a moment, uncomprehending, before "Wait – !" But John was already gone.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4: SHORE LEAVE

Citadel

"One moment sir. Sorry for the inconvenience." John stood still as the scanner did its job. This'll be interesting. The Turian C-Sec agent put a hand to his earpiece and muttered a few times, looking in between the console and John a few times.

"Uh, sorry sir, scans seem to think you're, uh, dead." Well shit. How do you say 'Hi, I'm Commander Shepard, just not your Commander Shepard' without actually saying it.

"Huh. Who do I talk to about that?"

"The Captain should be able to sort you out. He's inside." John nodded his thanks and went through the door. Looking to his left he saw Bailey arguing with one of the officers, and decided to take the opportunity to walk straight through the office. He knew it was only a matter of time before the Turian officer asked questions so he had to finish his business quickly. But first…

"Good afternoon sir, how can I help you?"

"Yes, I'd like a cut and a shave." He hadn't had a hair cut in 2 years, and had taken the hood off once.

"Right this way."

20 minutes later, and feeling much better, John was in front of an Avina terminal.

"I'm trying to find Chief Ashley Williams"

"Searching…Citadel records show Chief Ashley Williams staying at the Triton. Would you like a cab?"

"Yes."

* * *

Ashley let out a frustrated groan as she waited for the elevator to reach her floor. She'd been shuffled around ever since the Normandy crash and was getting frustrated at the run around she got whenever she inquired about a new posting. With a beep the doors opened and she exited. Walking to her room, she thought about her options. They weren't very appealing. Coming to a stop outside her door she entered the code and entered. She made it a total of 4 steps before instincts took over and she swiveled, sidearm up, at the figure standing in front of the window.

"Who are you?" She edged over to turn the lights on. The figure turned his head slightly, enough for her to recognize the mask.

"You…why are you here?" Her pistol lowered slightly, not aiming at him but still out in case she needed it.

"That's a good question, one which I often ask myself." His tone was low, almost brooding, and he had yet to fully face her. Ashley was getting impatient.

"How about a name then, seeing as we never got one."

"…John. And I'm here to talk about Commander Shepard." She scoffed.

"Skippers' dead, has been for two years." At this John finally turned to her.

"But he'll be back. And when he is, he'll need you and Alenko to destroy the Collectors."

"The hell are you talking about?"

"The human colonies that are vanishing? The work of the Collectors, who are indoctrinated Protheans working for the Reapers, specifically Harbinger. Cerberus has spent the past 2 years rebuilding your Commander so that he can destroy them. And when he does, he'll need a team." Ashleys' eyes had gone big at the mention of the Reapers, and her jaw had dropped at the Cerberus part. She stood there, not moving, for well over a minute, before,

"Bull shit. People don't come back from the dead -" A grim laugh interrupted her.

"I did." He stepped forward, reaching for his mask. She raised her pistol once again at the movement as he unclasped the latches and raised the mask. A gasp and the clatter of a gun on the ground followed.

"Shepard…?" John let a pained smile form, shaking his head slightly.

"Not exactly. My name is John Shepard, Commander of the Normandy SR-2, Butcher of Torfan, and First Human Spectre."

"What? That's not- "

"The Reapers came in 2186. We were fighting above Earth and had activated the Crucible, a high-energy weapon designed to destroy them. I was on the Citadel when it went off, next to the relay in the Presidium. Next thing I know I'm on Virmire, listening to an event that I had already lived once and had no intention of living again. So I changed history, and both you and Kaidan made it off that planet." The entire explanation his voice had become harder and more passionate until the end, where it leveled out. Ashley was in too much shock to do much of anything except stare at him.

"But…you're Shepard. How can there be two of you? Prove it!" The last bit was said as a challenge.

"Your Shepard is a soldier, correct?" She nodded. John closed his eyes and flicked a mental switch, his biotics coming to life and swirling around him in a myriad of twisting blue energy.

"I'm not. I'm a Vanguard, a biotic tank if you will. So," he sat on the edge of the bed, "What do you want to know?"

* * *

Ashley and John made their way to the docks, chartering a flight for Horizon and sitting in the waiting area.

"So…when does Shepard wake up?" John calculated in his head, saying,

"Well, he should have woken up two weeks ago, and if the timetable remains the same he will be at Horizon in a month. Our transport isn't nearly as fast as the Normandy, but we'll still get there at least a week before he does. This'll give us a chance to find Kaidan, get him up to speed, and update the defense tower. Hopefully we can still do it without EDI." Ashley nodded, her head turning at the announcement that their transport was boarding. Together, the two made their way onboard. The transport was civilian, so the two were dressed in civvies. For Ashley it was a rare but normal occurrence. For John, he couldn't remember the last time he wasn't wearing combat armor or a uniform. He felt a little bit out of depth. They reached their personal cabin, settling in for the two and a half week journey.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5: HORIZON

Horizon

Kaidan walked along the outer edge of the colony besides one of his 'liaisons', Lilith. The defense towers that he had come to install still weren't working and he was tired of getting stonewalled by the colonists who thought that everything Alliance was out to get them. He'd already been on the colony for a fortnight, and he was getting tired of the suspicious looks. Noticing that Lilith was speaking he tuned back in.

"Look, all I'm saying is to give them some time. They'll come around. The people here just don't trust the Alliance, it's nothing personal." Kaidan nodded, about to respond, when a dull roaring sound reached his ears. He glanced up to see that months transport make its landing. Looking to Lilith he nodded his head in the direction of the transport, an eyebrow raised. She nodded her head yes, and the two made their way to the spaceport.

* * *

The first thing Ashley did once exiting the ship was to stretch her arms up over her head like a cat, bathing in the first sunlight she'd seen in just over a fortnight. A smile on her face she glanced over her shoulder at her companion. John was standing just outside the door with a small frown on his face as he looked over the colony. Feeling the eyes on him he looked up at her. Ashley raised an eyebrow in question, jerking her head towards the colony. Together, the two made their way towards the check in.

Standing in line for any length of time is boring, especially to the two soldiers used to almost constant motion. They'd been in line for more than 20 minutes and John was starting to feel anxiety building up. None of his trips to Horizon had been pleasant, and he couldn't help the memories associated with it. His disastrous meeting with Ashley, losing yet another colony to the Collectors, and then Sanctuary…nothing good had ever come from him visiting this planet.

John brought his hands his temple, attempting to get rid of the building head ache. A voice that haunted his nightmares brought his hand down and head shooting up.

"Ash!" Kaidan strode forwards to his friend arms open. Ashley let out a joyful shout and ran towards her old friend. They gave each other a tight, but brief hug.

"Kaidan! It's so good to see you; it's been way too long."

"You too Ash. Not that I'm not happy you're here, but why are you on Horizon?" Instead of answering Ashley turned around to look at her companion, prompting Kaidan to do the same. He froze.

"Shepard…?" The second he had heard Kaidan's voice he had completely frozen. He watched the reunion of the two friends in silence, just taking in the sheer impossibility of what he was seeing. To him, there were no reunions past Virmire. To see it happening in front of him, on the colony that was associated with so many bad memories, was surreal. And then Kaidan was looking at him. There was no mask in the way this time, and he was too caught up in the moment to realize that Kaidan thought he was someone else.

Kaidan strode forwards and wrapped his arms around the man he thought dead for two years. John was stiff as a board at first, but slowly relaxed, even going so far as to bring his own arms up. They only stayed like that for a few seconds, but to John they felt like an eternity yet at the same time not long enough.

Kaidan stepped back examining his old C.O. Noting the scars on his face he asked,

"Shepard what happened? You died two years ago. How are you here?" It was Ashley who answered.

"Kaidan, we have a lot to talk about." Looking between the two he couldn't help but feel a sinking in his stomach. Whatever it was, he was almost guaranteed to not like it.

* * *

Kaidan was pacing back and forth in front of John and Ashley, rubbing his temples in an attempt to stave off a migraine.

"So let me get this straight. You're Shepard, but not Shepard, and the other Shepard was brought back to life by a terrorist organization in order to stop the indoctrinated Protheans, otherwise known as the Collectors, and you know all this because you," pointed at John "are from the future. Did I get all that?" At this point he had stopped pacing and was now staring incredulously at the pair. Ashley looked at John and said,

"See? Told you he wouldn't believe us. Show him what you showed me." John stood up.

"Your Shepard is a soldier, correct?" Kaidan nodded. John broke out the biotics, the blue maelstrom of energy swirling around faster this time thanks to his heightened emotions. His eyes open and glowing a deep azure he looked at Kaidan.

"Believe us now?

* * *

The days that followed were filled with preparations for when the Collectors showed up. An in depth inspection of the colony revealed a somewhat fortified building that would serve as shelter for the colonists when the time came. The three had spent their time either convincing the colonists to listen to them and fortifying the building as much as they could. Most were skeptical, but remained silent. They were of the opinion that as long as the Alliance soldiers were focused on that then they would leave them alone. Wishful thinking.

"Hey! What are you doing!" John looked up, a glare already present. Calibrating defense towers without EDI's help was a pain in the ass. He gestured around himself.

"Fixing your defense towers. What's it look like?" He remembered Delan, the accusing mechanic that he'd run into in the past. A scoff and a wave of the hand later and John was back to work. You'd think these people would be grateful we're helping. But noooo, we're Alliance. We're all that's wrong with the galaxy. Shaking his head at the stubbornness of people he was trying to save he continued the repairs.

A few buildings over Kaidan and Ashley were going over the schematics again, figuring out the logistics involved. As Kaidan pointed out a possible weak spot in the walls, a shrill alarm rang overhead. The two glanced up almost in unison, before bolting outside. On his way out Kaidan hit a glowing button, and the announcement, "Everyone, proceed to the bunker. An unidentified vessel has been detected" played on a loop over loudspeakers.

Ashley and Kaidan stood outside the entrance waving colonists in, their weapons locked and loaded. Above, a massive shadow became visible, blotting out the sun. The Collectors had arrived.

John swore, his motions becoming more rushed as he fought to figure out the correct calibration. He wished Garrus was there. Whenever the Turian wasn't sniping or pretending to have caught his mandibles on Tali's mask, he was calibrating giant guns. Shaking his head in frustration he continued.

Meanwhile, Ashley had spotted the swarm in the distance and shouted a warning to Kaidan. At this point almost all of the colonists had reached the bunker. Hearing the warning Kaidan looked in the direction Ashley was. His peripheral vision caught movement to the side. Head turning, he saw Lilith pulling an obviously handicapped man towards the bunker, trying to move faster.

"Ash!" She turned, saw what Kaidan had seen, and nodded. Kaidan didn't wait, rushing forwards to swing the man over one shoulder in a fireman's carry and ushering Lilith ahead of him.

"Go! I'll cover you." One arm over the man's legs, the other pulled his pistol and blind fired behind him. As Lilith made the doorway Ashley followed her inside, assault rifle firing at the swarm.

"Come on!" Kaidan ran the last few feet and dived inside, Ashley slamming the seal on the door almost immediately. As Lilith helped the man to his feet and towards the others, Kaidan turned to Ashley. She had one hand to her ear attempting to contact John. The sounds of the swarm outside filtered through, an angry buzzing noise. Small thumps could be heard as the two continued to try and make contact.

John swore again, his voice rising in volume and intensity as he attempted to get the stupid towers online. Convincing two indoctrinated people otherwise, destroying the Collector base, killing Reapers, sure, all in a day's work. But calibrating a couple of defense towers, no, that was hard. John swore again.

A few more lines of code, an answering encryption from his omni-tool, and the light was green. He almost felt like dancing a little jig. Entering the targeting parameters he hit the flashing button. A smirk took form as the sounds of cannon fire could be heard above him. The smirk disappeared almost immediately as he realized he was out in the open, alone, with the remaining Collectors between him and safety. Ah well. He wouldn't be Commander Shepard without having to fight everything. Time to have some fun.

It was a massacre. One trigger happy Vanguard versus indoctrinated bugs. No chance. John charged at the nearest Collector and drilled his metal-plated fist through the bugs head. Pulling his arm out of the pulpy remains he turned, firing his assault rifle point blank at another. The mass-accelerated rounds ripped through the carapace and kept on going. One of the Collectors hovered a few feet of the ground, its carapace cracking and beginning to look like yellow lava. Knowing what was coming John didn't hesitate; he charged upwards and body checked the Collector, sending them both smashing through a prefab unit.

The black and red armored form rose from the ruins of the prefab, his helmeted face swiveling side to side looking for his next target. A loud screech echoed. John spun; the sound came from the direction of the bunker. He charged.

A praetorian was hovering above a collection of prefab units, sending fire every few seconds in random directions. Ashley had her rifle out and was looking through the scope trying to line up a decent shot, with Kaidan standing by to overload its shields. The overload took out a good portion of its barriers and a shot rang out, tearing a hole through part of the armor. Ashley reloaded her rifle and took aim again as Kaidan let loose a reave at the weak spot. But the rifle fire had given them away. The praetorian was floating towards them, its primary weapon glowing a bright blue.

A flash of blue was all the warning they had before the black-and-red armored figure of John was on top of the praetorian. Arms alight with blue fire he gripped both sides of the tear and pulled, the armor letting loose a loud screech as it tore. The inside of the creature was visible and the two soldiers recoiled. It looked like an amalgam of husks were all stuffed inside and melted together. John didn't hesitate, however; he'd dealt with them before. Quickly priming a few incendiary grenades he dropped them in the newly created hole and let go of the monstrosity, jumping clear of the resulting explosion.

John stood in the wreckage looking for any enemies he had missed as the bunker doors behind him opened up. With the colonists staring outside in fear and awe Kaidan and Ashley made their way to John. As they came up to him he turned his head, a grin overtaking his features.

"Well," he said, "that wasn't so bad." The two just shook their heads as they surveyed the battlefield.

* * *

"Something's not right." Commander James Shepard stood with Miranda and Garrus on the edge of the colony. They had received a tip from the Illusive Man that this was the next colony to be hit so they had high-tailed it over. However, they arrived in time to see the Collector ship bugging out of the system and the colony itself was a graveyard of destroyed Collector corpses. It seemed that someone had beaten them to the punch.

The trio moved further into the colony proper, scanning side to side for any enemies. The shredded remains of destroyed Collectors greeted them wherever they looked. They were moving past a cluster of prefab units when a low moan sounded behind them. The trio spun to see a scion lumbering towards them with a group of husks in front. They opened fire while dashing for cover. Garrus fired a concussive round into the scion, slowing it down, while Miranda flung a warp at it. James switched to his shotgun to get in close with the husks. With Miranda and Garrus focusing on keeping the scion at bay, James was left with the husks. He was quickly getting overwhelmed. He fired a round at one, making its chest implode, only to be grabbed by one on his left. Bashing its head with his rifle gave him some room to maneuver, so he stepped forward to crush it, only to see its head explode.

James looked to his left to see his old Chief with her sniper rifle out, taking aim at another husk. Kaidan was running alongside the mystery Spectre of two years before, both glowing with their biotics. The masked Spectre vanished in a flash of blue, only to reappear in front of the scion, arms outstretched. James watched as the scion was shoved backwards and smashed into a nearby wall. As the masked Spectre systematically took the scion apart Kaidan reached him.

"Hey Commander, long time no see." Well, that wasn't the reaction he was expecting. His confusion doubled when Ashley came up and said,

"Ya Skipper, you don't call, you don't write…what's a girl to think?" Her smile belied her statement, clearly glad to see him. James was stumped. He was expecting anger and betrayed yelling, not…this.

"Chief. Lieutenant. Clearly I'm missing something." Ashley laughed while Kaidan gave a rueful shake of his head.

"Oh, you have no idea." The reunion was cut short with the sound of an explosion as the other Spectre detonated a biotic field. The scion was ripped apart. Miranda and Garrus rejoined James, the latter nodding at the two Alliance soldiers. The still – to James – mystery man walked over to join them. In a lighthearted tone that totally unprepared him for the meaning of the statement, Ashley said,

"Commander Shepard, meet Commander Shepard." Wait…what?

* * *

The group, after saying their goodbyes to the colonists, had relocated to the Normandy's briefing room. The entire ground team was gathered around the table, along with the rest of Shepards original crew. John had just finished telling his story, albeit the abbreviated version, and the Normandy crew was in a state of shock. He was really getting tired of explaining it over and over, John mused while he waited for the inevitable reaction. However, he was pleasantly surprised when the other him simply said,

"Well that explains some things. So what now?" For once, John was the one nonplussed. Huh, I wonder if this is how everyone feels every time I do/say something completely unexpected. Shaking his head, he responded,

"First off, this information does not go beyond this room," he looked at Miranda, "and secondly, I have a few pieces of information that will convince the Council and Admiral Hackett that the Reapers are real and what to do about it. But it has to come from you." He finished, looking at James. His alternate nodded, gesturing for him to continue.

"So basically, there's a Reaper corpse orbiting the brown dwarf Mnemosyne in the Thorne system in the Hawking Eta cluster, and the designs for the device that destroys the Reapers are located at the Mars archives. Now, the Reaper corpse will be your proof for the Council, and if necessary, you can use the fact that the asari have a hidden prothean relic as leverage, but you'll need the IFF from the corpse to go through the Omega 4 relay. However, the IFF is a trap, so…" John continued to explain what needed to happen and the consequences if it didn't. By the end he could tell that a good number of the crew was suffering from information overload, and gave them a few minutes to collect themselves. James was the first to break the silence.

"Let's get started."


End file.
